


Goodnight, Natty. Welcome Home.

by br0ken_hands (orphan_account)



Category: Women's Hockey RPF
Genre: And of course Levy's redemption, Brandt's massive success as co-captain with lee, Congrats Gophers - its been an honour to cheer for maroon and gold, Gen, I have a lot of feelings about this senior class okay?, Kess' fairy tale ending, So this is all of it summed up in one fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 11:34:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6327343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/br0ken_hands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From over the shoulders of the two screaming hockey players, Amanda can see her teammates throwing their gloves and helmets into the air, pouncing on the growing pile of sweaty, tired, and... victorious hockey players.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goodnight, Natty. Welcome Home.

Amanda could hear her teammates counting down from the bench. 

Two.

The puck was in the other end. Two goals in two seconds. Impossible.

One.

Her bench was already emptying, and Milica was sprinting full speed at her already. Amanda dropped her stick, and braced for the oncoming impact

Zero.

“Oh my god, Amanda! We did it!” Milica screams, leaping into the goalie’s arms. Dani follows shortly after, throwing herself onto the two Gophers. 

From over the shoulders of the two screaming hockey players, Amanda can see her teammates throwing their gloves and helmets into the air, pouncing on the growing pile of sweaty, tired, and... victorious hockey players.

Someone pushes the net out of the way and Amanda finally falls over, the weight of the team on her chest nothing in comparison to the pressure earlier in the game. 

Winners. 

Fuck, Amanda couldn’t think straight. 3 for 4. Her team. The Gophers. The Gophers won. Her teammates continued to mob her, their screams barely reaching her ears. They did it. Kessel did it. Cameranesi did it. Potomak did it. Brandt did it. She did it. 

“Haha, yeah we did.” She yells back at the eager faces pressed up against her cage, “We did it, guys.”

When she’s finally able to get back up, the first person she goes to is Amanda. The other Amanda. Amanda Kessel, comeback queen.

“You did it, Kess!” Amanda all but shouts, very much out of character.

Kessel howls in laughter, clapping the goalkeeper on the back. “It was all you, Levy, it was all you!”

Amanda’s grin grows even bigger as she is handed a hat and goes to hug Brad. 

“I knew you could do it, Levy.” He says, an unshed tear threatening to spill, “You amazing goalkeeper you.”

Amanda smiles and nods her thanks, putting on the hat backwards and skating out to join her teammates. 

She’s ready to go home and take a long nap, honestly, but she has locker room speeches to make, press conferences to attend, and a welcome home party to go to. She accepts the Hard Hat Player award gratefully, lowers Natty to her lips, and flies out that same evening. She can’t help but giggle throughout it all. She laughs at Potomak dancing with Natty, cheers when the award is raised so that the pep band can see, grins right through interviews and meetings, and nearly tears up when she comes home to Goldy Gopher’s handiwork on Ridder Arena’s sign. 

She sets her gear by her stall in the locker room, and snaps a picture of the Natty sitting in the middle of the room.

“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”

Amanda turns at the sound from over her shoulder, and nearly falls over onto Brandt’s shoes. “Hey, captain.” She grins, pocketing her phone.

“Hey, Levy. Good game today.” The shorter woman said, cheeks hurting from smiling.

Amanda shrugged. “Gotta thank my defense. They made...”

“Your job easy, I know Levy.” Hannah chuckled, “You say that every conference, every interview, for goodness sakes, Amanda, I’m serious. You’re one of the best goaltenders to come through Minnesota. I’m going to miss playing with you.”

Amanda smiled, hugging the brunette. “Thanks, cap. You’re pretty amazing too, record breaker. I’m gonna miss playing with you too. You could always get a transfer to Buffalo after your first season.” The goalkeeper teased.

Hannah frowned and scoffed. “Excuse me, Connecticut is going to kick your butt.”

Amanda raised an eyebrow. “We’ll see, Brandt, we’ll see.” She turned around to look at the locker room. Everyone had left by then, leaving only their gear and the Natty. 

“So this is it, then.” Hannah said quietly, taking in the locker room.

Amanda sighed. “I guess. It’s been a good four years.”

“Yeah.”

The two women stood there for a while, their arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders. It had been a good four years. Going to the finals every year and winning three of them - Amanda couldn’t ask for a better NCAA career.

“Alright.” Hannah’s watery voice broke the silence, “I’m going to go before I actually start sobbing in here. Tonight is for celebrations, not tearful goodbyes. Goodnight Levy, I’ll see you later.” With that, the forward made her way out of the room and into the night.

“Goodnight, Hannah!” Amanda called after her, waving at her captain. She looked one last time to the center of the room again to where the trophy sat on the floor, gold trim gleaming in the stall lights. She smiled, turning towards the door. “Goodnight Natty. Welcome home.”


End file.
